DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9550#0150
102
INTRODUCTION.
have had ample opportunity of observing the supers-
titious puerilities into which they have been thrown
by their self-interested guides, who, in defiance of the-
law as well as of common sense, have succeeded but
too well in conducting them to the temple of idolatry ;:
and while they hid from their view the true substance
of morality, have infused into their simple hearts a
weak attachment for its mere shadow.
For the chief part of the theory and practice of
Hindooism, I am sorry to say, is made to consist in
the adoption of a peculiar mode of diet; the least
aberration from which (even though the conduct of
the offender may in other respects be pure ^nd blame-
less) is not only visited with the severest censure, but
actually punished by exclusion from the society of his'
family and friends. In a word, he is doomed to undergo
what is commonly called loss of caste.
On the contrary, the rigid observance of this grand
article of Hindoo faith is considered in so high a light
as to compensate for every moral defect. Even the
most atrocious crimes weigh little or nothing in the
balance against the supposed guilt of its violation.
Murder, theft, or perjury, though brought home
to the party by a judicial sentence, so far from inducing
loss of caste, is visited in their socieiy with no peculiar
mark of infamy or disgrace.
A trifling present to the Brahmin, commonly called
Prayaschit, with the performance of a few idle cere-
monies, are held as a sufficient atonement for all those
crimes; and the delinquent is at once freed from all
temporal inconvenience, as well as all dread of future
retribution.
INTRODUCTION.
have had ample opportunity of observing the supers-
titious puerilities into which they have been thrown
by their self-interested guides, who, in defiance of the-
law as well as of common sense, have succeeded but
too well in conducting them to the temple of idolatry ;:
and while they hid from their view the true substance
of morality, have infused into their simple hearts a
weak attachment for its mere shadow.
For the chief part of the theory and practice of
Hindooism, I am sorry to say, is made to consist in
the adoption of a peculiar mode of diet; the least
aberration from which (even though the conduct of
the offender may in other respects be pure ^nd blame-
less) is not only visited with the severest censure, but
actually punished by exclusion from the society of his'
family and friends. In a word, he is doomed to undergo
what is commonly called loss of caste.
On the contrary, the rigid observance of this grand
article of Hindoo faith is considered in so high a light
as to compensate for every moral defect. Even the
most atrocious crimes weigh little or nothing in the
balance against the supposed guilt of its violation.
Murder, theft, or perjury, though brought home
to the party by a judicial sentence, so far from inducing
loss of caste, is visited in their socieiy with no peculiar
mark of infamy or disgrace.
A trifling present to the Brahmin, commonly called
Prayaschit, with the performance of a few idle cere-
monies, are held as a sufficient atonement for all those
crimes; and the delinquent is at once freed from all
temporal inconvenience, as well as all dread of future
retribution.